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Postie Les Steele was determined to deliver all of his mail - even though his van was stuck in a river.
Mr Steele was left red-faced after watching his parked Royal Mail van roll into the river at Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland.
But despite his shock and embarrassment, the postman climbed into the back of the vehicle to retrieve the mail and parcels so that they could still be delivered.
The mail must get through: Les Steele didn't let a little thing like his van being stuck nose down in a river bed prevent his round being completed
The blunder took place last Thursday in the Longstone View area.
One resident, who did not wish to be named, said: 'We heard a loud bang at about 8.45am.
'We initially thought a builder's lorry had dropped its load, but looked outside and saw the mail van in the river.
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'He's parked up but it must have rolled across the road, up the kerb and then nose-dived into the river.
'We saw the postman just along the road and he said he'd just looked around and his van had gone.'
High tide: How Berwick-upon-Tweed looks when the water is in, illustrating how much worse it could have been for the postman
Luckily the tide was out at the time, no one was hurt, and all of the mail was recovered.
A breakdown truck was called but it was unable to tow the van out, so a bigger digger was needed to drag it up the six-foot drop.
'There were lots of people standing around by that time, many of them taking photographs,' added the onlooker.
The cause of the accident is under investigation, but it is believed the handbrake was on when the van hauled back on to the road.
It is not the first time a vehicle has suffered the same fate in Berwick-upon-Tweed.
It is believed there was a similar incident elsewhere in the town four months ago.
